Home prices around the country are continuing to fall, however that decline lessened in January.
Every capital city posted a decline in home prices through the month with Sydney's median dwelling value dropped below $1 million for the first time since March 2021, according to the CoreLogic Home Value Index.
Meanwhile Melbourne prices were down 1.1 per cent with the median property value now sitting at $746,468.z
Dwelling values combines both houses and units.
Prices across regional Australia also underwent a cut, however losses are not as high as in capital cities with combined regional prices dropping by 0.8 per cent while combined capitals dropped by 1.1 per cent.
That can be put down in part to the relative affordability of homes in regional Australia compared to their city counterparts.
"Even though the affordability proposition across many regional areas has been eroded substantially through the latest upswing, a lot of regional markets are still more affordable than their capital city counterparts," said CoreLogic Research Director Tim Lawless.
"So just look at the Illawarra and Newcastle. The typical median value for a house in the Illawarra region it's $930,000 compared to Sydney where it's still $1.2 million and in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie it is even lower at $815,000. So I think there's still an affordability advantage that rings through for these markets."
He said the changes that occurred with greater city to regional migration during COVID is also having an affect.
"Even though migration rates have clearly eased back, they still seem to be above what they were pre COVID and more people are able to base themselves in considerable regional markets than what we're seeing pre COVID as well."
"This will be an interesting trend to watch over the longer term."
Across regional Australia properties in regional Tasmania took the greatest hit, losing 1.1 per cent in value in January, followed by regional NSW where properties lost 1 per cent in value.
In regional Victoria properties dropped by 0.7 per cent.
The price drops in January and over the past year, still put homeowners in front from where prices stood pre-pandemic.
"Despite the recent sharp drop in values, every capital city and rest-of-state region is still recording home values above pre-pandemic levels, although Melbourne's index would only need to fall a further -0.4%before equaling the March 2020 reading," Mr Lawless said.
